🕶️ 2025 teasers & 2024 wrap: trends, triumphs, and tumults

Six bullets of updates

1. 💡 2025 tech trends: AI boosts enterprise budgets, with 74% of CXOs planning increased tech spending.

2. 🖥️ Programming trends 2024: Python surged in AI while Java held strong in enterprise apps, and Rust rose for memory safety.

3. 🛡️ US Treasury hit by a cyberattack, attributed to Chinese hackers, gaining access to unclassified documents.

4. 🏗️ ByteDance plans to skirt U.S. restrictions by spending $7B on Nvidia chips, storing them outside China in 2025.

5. 🧠 Nvidia finalizes $700M acquisition of Run:ai, plans to open-source its AI software for broader market reach.

6. 🌌 Google's 2025 focus? Scaling its AI model Gemini, as Pichai calls it a "critical" year with high stakes.

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Privacy wars: the crypto crowd isn’t having it

Three cryptocurrency industry groups—the DeFi Education Fund, the Blockchain Association, and the Texas Blockchain Council—have filed a lawsuit against the IRS to challenge new regulations requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to report customer information. These rules are part of the Biden administration's efforts to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which the IRS claims will address information gaps regarding digital assets and improve tax compliance.

The lawsuit argues that the regulations unfairly categorize DeFi front-ends—interfaces that connect users to crypto protocols—as brokers, even though they don’t directly execute transactions. The groups contend this misclassification places undue burdens on these platforms and threatens user privacy. According to Marisa Coppel, the Blockchain Association’s legal head, the rules not only infringe on individual privacy but also risk driving this emerging technology sector out of the U.S.

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These companies just raised money

1. 🏥 Carecode raises $4.3M: Brazilian healthtech aims to cut admin costs with AI, targeting $100B in savings.

2. 📉 PharmEasy's valuation plummets 92% to $456M despite securing $200M and eyeing an IPO next year.

3. 🌍 Africa's fintech scene soars as TymeBank and Moniepoint reach unicorn status, catering to 25M+ users with hybrid banking.

4. 🍴 Calo secures $25M to expand personalized ready-to-eat meal service beyond Middle East; aiming for $250M valuation.

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Trump’s last-minute TikTok tango

Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to delay a law requiring ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to sell the app or face a U.S. ban. The ban is scheduled to take effect on January 19, just one day before Trump’s inauguration. ByteDance is challenging the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which underpins the ban, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments on January 10. Trump's legal team has criticized the timing, describing it as disruptive to his ability to oversee foreign policy, and has emphasized his unique qualifications to negotiate a resolution that balances national security with preserving TikTok.

The law’s supporters argue that TikTok poses a national security risk, claiming the Chinese government could exploit the app for data collection and propaganda. However, Trump’s filing highlights TikTok’s role as a platform for free expression and notes his 14.7 million followers on the app. Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his presidency, has more recently expressed support for the platform, even campaigning on its preservation. Meanwhile, civil liberties groups, including the ACLU and EFF, have filed briefs supporting TikTok’s appeal, asserting the government has failed to provide credible evidence of imminent harm.

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The UNBELIEVABLE Life (and Death) of John McAfee

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